LibraryLinks Fall 2007/Spring2008
Bringing Our Collections to the World
By Jean Root Green and John M. Meador, Jr.
Marilyn C. Link views a projection of the Edwin A. Link, Jr., Digital Archives website.
One measure of a library’s uniqueness is its collection of rare books, archives and manuscripts. To expand the reach of Binghamton University Libraries’ Special Collections, the Libraries recently purchased OCLC’s CONTENTdm Digital Collection Management Software. This software handles all media types and allows us to easily handle thousands of digital images. Standardized descriptive metadata allows patrons from around the world to easily search and retrieve the information they need.
The first project using CONTENTdm is the Edwin A. Link, Jr., Digital Archives, located at http://library.lib.binghamton.edu/special/linkhome.html. The digital archives currently consist of more than 160 photographs from the Link collections, including images of the local inventor, industrialist and pioneer, and photographs depicting aviation simulation, underwater archaeology and ocean engineering. The digital archive will be expanded to include materials from other collections.
Thanks to intensive collaborative work by Jean Green, Aynur DeRouen, Robin Hazen, Beth Kilmarx, Michal Figura, Marcy Strong and Mien Wong, a growing number of digitized Link materials are being stored and made available within OCLC’s CONTENTdm. This exciting digital initiative was shared with Marilyn C. Link on June 6, 2008.